


Nesting

by deathwailart



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Family, Nesting, Paragon Commander Shepard, Pregnancy, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-05
Updated: 2012-12-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 09:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/584117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liara, Shepard, the N7 hoodie and the (impending) little blue baby</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nesting

Shepard grew up a spacer, tagging along after her mother from one assignment to the next, only hanging on to a few precious things because there isn't much space on a ship for personal belongings. But there was a t-shirt she had, some silly logo thing she and her mother picked up on shore leave that she wore until it had no shape left, the hem unstitched, the design completely gone leaving a ghost imprint behind, grey not white and with a hole in the armpit. (That hole, god she remembers trying to hide it because her mother was able to deal with the colour situation and the shape but not holes. But find it her mother did and Shepard might have sobbed a few angry tears until a new t-shirt appeared mysteriously that was subject to a day's pretence of hatred before it became the new favourite.) She feels the same way about her now infamous hoodie as she did about that t-shirt.  
  
The hoodie came from Joker - who else would be able to procure an n7 hoodie when an invasion was coming? - and she had lived in it when not in her armour, the precious few moments when she'd been able to catch her breath. Somehow she felt stronger in it though. A soft, comforting embrace. It made her feel the same way she did when she used to curl up in her mother's uniform jackets when she was little, feeling scared or alone or just cold in space. The hoodie is no longer soft anymore, the fleece lining the insides bobbly and the black is closer to grey but she still feels protected in it, zipping it right up to her chin as she relaxes with a cup of tea or when she and Liara are watching vids. If she can find it that is. Having to get dressed at a moment's notice thanks to a life in the military means that she knows exactly where she last put something down. Like her clothes. Clothes she remembers draping over the back of the desk chair right before bed - her jeans and t-shirt from yesterday are still there but the hoodie is conspicuously absent. Liara's clothes are gone too but Liara keeps strange hours even now because the Shadow Broker can rarely afford to sleep so that's hardly surprising. Shepard is becoming fond of sleeping in late now that she gets the chance and because sometimes Blasto marathons have to be undertaken no matter how many times you've seen them, finger pistols akimbo as the classic lines are quoted. (She'll never tell Liara this but she can't wait until their daughters are old enough to be told this one does not have time for your solid waste excretions.) Their apartment is quiet as Shepard gets up and dressed, rubbing her bare arms en route to the kitchen to make tea.  
  
Somehow it always strikes her here, these mundane ordinary moments, that this is her life. Not the saving the galaxy three times. Not reconciling the geth and the quarians. Not giving the krogan a future. Not all the crazy stuff. She can believe all of that and maybe that's the problem - she's so used to crazy that her body doesn't know what normal is. But it's real. It's real and she loves it and it was worth all those months in a hospital and rehab after the crucible but still, who would've thought that Commander Shepard the first human Spectre would be barefoot in an Illium apartment making tea for her and her asari lover? There's no mission, no assignment, just sitting back for the moment to enjoy her galaxy. Except locating her hoodie. And tea. And making sure Liara isn't working too hard.  
  
And checking her inbox because that thing breeds likes to think it's a krogan the way it reproduces overnight although she doesn't mind so much when it's full of pictures of the rebuilding on Tuchanka, Wrex, Bakara and their little ones with Uncle Grunt. Grunt sends emails of his own and perhaps Shepard feels prepared for parenthood because Grunt will always be her first child after a fashion; she'll feel damn old when Grunt starts sending pictures of his own tiny hell raisers but she knows she'll be proud too.  
  
Teas in hand, she makes her way quietly into Liara's office (theirs, Liara always reminds her but Shepard's work always devolve into telling Zaeed worthy yarns so it never feels like she actually does any work in there herself), dropping a kiss onto Liara's head as she sets the cups down. It's a good thing too when she realises what it is that Liara's wearing, the mystery of the missing hoodie solved. Suddenly - and for reasons she can't quite understand - she's dropping down into her seat with a sudden little gasp because it's Liara all bundled up in Shepard's favourite hoodie, one hand occupied with a datapad and the other rubbing circles on her baby bump.  
  
"Morning," Liara greets absently, consumed with whatever it is that she's reading (Shepard doesn't look, she's happy to be out of the galactic scene for the moment as she begins subtly baby proofing an apartment and telling Javik that thanks, but no thanks, she doesn't think that raising their daughter the prothean way will make her less of a primitive and that additionally, she _really_ doesn't want to know what the prothean way even means in the first place) so she doesn't notice Shepard's little moment right away. But when Shepard fails to reply, she turns, a confused quirk to her lips, the datapad exchanged for tea. "Shepard?"  
  
"It looks, I mean you, _you_ look good in that."  
  
"Oh! I don't know why I picked it up this morning but I believe I understand your attachment to it now," she explains, smiling and moving her hand so that Shepard can scoot her chair forward, one hand covering Liara's as the other squeezes her knee, just enough to balance her when she steals a morning kiss.  
  
"You should borrow it more often," Shepard replies, sliding her fingers beneath fabric to rub warm skin - another month or two and she might start to feel the odd flutter or hint of movement that make Liara gasp.  
  
"Maybe I will. You know," Liara's voice is quiet enough that Shepard knows what's coming and maybe one day her gut won't twist when the crucible or the months after come up in conversation but it's not today, "when you were in the hospital I wore it every day when I visited. I couldn't say why but it was comforting to curl up in it." She smiles, squeezing Shepard's hand through the hoodie. "Even though you needed all your strength and ours to heal and return..." Liara breaks off with a stuttering breath; if Shepard could change it all so she didn't almost die on Liara a second time then she would in a heartbeat.  
  
"I understand Liara, we all lean on each other – you've always held onto things for me, that's the way I come back."  
  
Through a few brief tears, Liara snorts and gives Shepard a shove. The tension is lifted and they go back to their morning routine, or rather Liara does. Shepard saved the galaxy, she's allowed to be besotted and caught up in being a first time dad.  
  
"We'll need to call Joker and find out where he got mine," Shepard says casually, resting her head on Liara's shoulder when she finally manages to stop rubbing Liara's stomach – the hoodie, unfortunately, has an awful tendency to give out static shocks, something she learned the hard way which earned her the nickname Sparks the Second because it _had_ to happen in front of James. "One for you and one for the little lady when she comes along."  
  
It's worth the bruise and flashes of pain when a still healing elbow (Miranda and Chakwas are miracle workers but Shepard isn't so sure she'll ever get rid of some of the scars and circuitry glowing bright beneath her skin) takes the brunt of her fall when Liara tackles her out of her seat. Shepard's already planning the cheesy cards they can send out for the holidays. And she may or may not be hoping the hoodie will help hide all the Blasto onesies she's bookmarked behind Liara's back. (Even the Shadow Broker can get past EDI when she and Joker are in on a private scheme.)


End file.
